Over 150 students, staff and alumni enjoyed our first Dental Alumni Lecture on 15 November which was delivered by alumnus, registered dentist and Communications Manager of Dental Protection, David Croser BDS LDS MFGDP (UK).
Entitled ‘HIV/ AIDS Then and Now – 30 Years of Rediscovering Infection Control’, the lecture took us on a journey through the huge changes in infection control procedures which have impacted day-to-day Dentistry over the years and influenced how patients with HIV and AIDS receive dental treatment. It also looked at how regulation has finally changed for the better to allow dentists with HIV to continue in practice, provided certain conditions to protect patients were adhered to.
The presentation was an opportunity to describe the process of deconstructing the precautionary emotional barriers that had arisen in the early days of the disease and replacing them with logical evidence-based thinking.
Commenting on the lecture, David said: “The situation for patients living with HIV today has been transformed by the availability of effective anti-retroviral therapy and a universal standard of infection control backed up by audit. Hopefully, the lessons learned in the last 30 years will be applicable in the face of future new diseases.”
David added: “It was a pleasure to share my experiences as a general dental practitioner who had the opportunity to disseminate some good science. But then, Birmingham has always been good at that sort of thing.”
Alumni are invited to attend our next Dentistry Alumni Lecture, which will be delivered by alumnus and world-renowned endodontist, Dr Julian Webber (BDS 1974) at 5pm on Monday 13 March 2017.